On Mon, 22 Dec 1997, David wrote:

> Ok, I'll admit I'm not very scientific in my testing.  I've booted the
> kernel with internal video, shutdown, switched the monitor cable over to
> the rasterops card, and booted again.  I can see that the system is hanging
> when the nubus is initialized.

>From your description, I'll assume that the "last thing" you can see is
when the screen starts displaying three mini-copies of everything.  It is
pretty certain that the card is entering 24-bit mode.  But, if MacOS was
in 1-bit mode before booting NetBSD, the SLOTMAN kernel should get things
reset to 1-bit mode _afteR_ the RasterOps card goes through its
initialization stuff.  Since that is not happening (it isn't getting back
to 1-bit mode), try booting with your monitor set to 24-bit mode (ie,
millions of colors).

NetBSD has for some time now been able to boot in pretty much any mode at
all, all the way from 1-bit to 24/32-bit mode.  (Just don't try to run dt
or X if you didn't boot in 1-bit mode.)  So, if you start from MacOS in
24-bit mode, go through card initialization which puts it in 24-bit mode,
and then SLOTMAN tries to return to the original 24-bit mode, you should
be able to watch the whole boot process, and in particular you should be
able to see the rest of the console messages that are displayed by
NetBSD's boot procedures.

> I think that Paul is right in saying that the card is in 24bit mode.  I am
> booting in 1bit, but when the card is initialized, it displays a 24bit
> color RasterOps logo.  This is where the three screens appear.  I think
> that the card is simply not getting reset back to the original settings.
> Perhaps the kernel is not waiting long enough.  I notice that MacOS takes a
> few seconds longer when the screen is up before it begins the normal boot
> process.

It isn't a matter of how long the kernel waits;  in fact, the kernel
doesn't wait at all.  The card's initialization routines may well wait a
while to make sure you can see the logo.

BTW, does the logo itself come out OK (ie, only one copy) at first, and
then gets messed up after?  Or does the log start off in triplicate?

Finally, do you have the capability of attaching a serial console to the
system?  (Ie, do you have a vt100-like dumb terminal, or another computer
that can act like one?)  If so, you can boot with serial console on, and
all of the startup messages will go there instead of the Mac video device.

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